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characteroulette · 7 months

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A study on prosecutors -- (previous) (next)

Let's get into the weeds of the Investigations games.

Judging any of the prosecutors in the Investigations games, Edgeworth included, is a difficult thing to do. We're not privy to their style of prosecuting, after all, since the whole game takes place outside of any trials. I guess this shows how much stock I take from said trials, but it is a core mechanic to the Ace Attorney series, so I feel justified on that one. Judging a prosecutor from half of the usual info makes things a bit of a harder sell to me, they really missed an opportunity to get us into the courtroom properly.

But I digress. Let's go down the list.

First off, Jacques Portsman. He's a first case villain for sure, as we know he committed the crime and his over the top performance is really grating. I kinda never believed him when he claimed to be a prodigy or some up and coming star because of that, though. Like, sir, you're a first case murderer. You're not that hard to crack, especially as the game has to tutorialise everything for us.

His being pretty awful is kinda the point, however. Here is one of many prosecutors whom Edgeworth has to work alongside in the office. He's as corrupt and ruthless as anyone else, he's another in the many who believe that winning and making a name for themselves is all that matters in the world of the law. He's a symptom of the way the law operates in this world, far from the cause. That's at least one fascinating aspect to him.

It's yet another show of how Manfred could have gotten away with his forty year streak without anyone so much as batting an eye at it.

Speaking of, let's dig into Manfred a bit deeper, seeing as he's the only other prosecutor we really meet in the first game. (Faraday gets like one line before he dies, so I can't really count him.) He's acting Edgeworth's superior here, no matter how much Edgeworth refers to him as his mentor. This is a disconnect that always struck me about what we get to see of their interactions; Edgeworth really does respect Manfred from the bottom of his heart. He sees Manfred as someone who helped him find structure and strength in his life after what happened to his father. But Manfred doesn't return that respect at all. Really, a lot of how Manfred speaks to Edgeworth here reads as condescending, and that's before he goes off about how worthless Edgeworth is. His promise of an hour of recess is also one that stood out to me; he expects Edgeworth to partake in some of the dirtier tactics that he (and Franziska) might. He's leaving that option open for Edgeworth to do whatever necessary to get his guilty verdict, to prove himself a perfect von Karma. It doesn't end up happening because we have to preserve continuity -- I mean, the trial gets cancelled due to murder shenanigans, but it's a detail that's always stood out to me.

We get a lot more intriguing a look into Manfred's character in the second Investigations game. He adores his wife to the point of proclaiming her the best chef in the world. That's weirdly humanising for him!! And he loves his daughter, too, even if he's not very good at showing it. He may be a wicked man, but it wasn't actually by his own hand that he had to tamper with evidence. Hell, maybe that's why Gregory was able to call him out. (He forged a WHOLE BODY and that'll forever be hilarious to me.) (Well, an autopsy report. Same difference.) What I would GIVE to be able to see the actual trials between Gregory and Manfred, with Gregory struggling to find any hold and Manfred acting composed while also hoping his evidence doesn't get called out. It had to be one hell of a battle, Gregory isn't one to go down without a fight.

Anyway, Byrne Faraday. I figure I might give a bit of a thought on him from what we can extrapolate.

Kay loved him dearly and he was definitely doing his best by her. That promise notebook they had between them is so sweet, the man was trying his best to be a good dad. He had some level of corruption, though, considering he was one foot to the Yatagarasu. Sure, it was more for justice than our usual prosecutor fare, but he was still cheating to get guilty verdicts. Even if his corruption swung the other way than where we're used to seeing, it shows he was willing to get his hands dirty for his justice. It shows his lack of faith in the legal system he was a part of, another symptom to this dark age. (As an aside, these two games are the true lead-in to Dual Destinies. Not Apollo Justice. You want the themes and points of DD to ring stronger or truer at all? Play the Investigations games before going into DD, it'll all make more sense that way. Or, as much sense as it can make.)

It is fun seeing how much they have to strain to get us to like Faraday, though. At least, I feel he's supposed to be likeable, since they focus on him being a good dad and not the fact that he was working behind the scenes to help rig his trials. A perfect contrast to Manfred, whom the games don't even try to make likeable since we all know what becomes of him in the end. And yet they put in just enough to get you to see him as less a monster than you might have. (The Inga solution! It works on me every time!!)

Also funny that there are only two new prosecutors introduced in the first Investigations game and they're both basically bit parts. Because then we get into the second game and meet our more traditional opposing prosecutor, Sebastian Debeste.

Ahh, Yumihiko Ichiyanagi. A mess of a child. Starts out pompous and believing he's always right because that's what everyone around him is forced to say to him. He's a nepotism baby, his dad's the Chief of the Prosecutorial Investigation Committee, after all. He's a brat and a pest and he's also so stupid you find yourself wondering how the hell he managed to get his badge in the first place.

Well, this is a world of dumbasses, you suppose. How else could simple logic be a superpower? You move on and concern yourself more with whom you suspect to be the true villain pulling the strings here, Justine Courtney.

Her subtle pushes and buttering Sebastian up are near sinister. It's like she's using him as a mouthpiece at times, a way to get her own goals and work done here. She wants to seemingly destroy Edgeworth, nearly singularly focuses on this goal at times, and you can't help but find pity for Sebastian being caught up in her scheme. He's seventeen and it shows far more on him than it does on Klavier or Franziska. He's floundering while everyone simply congratulates him on a job while done, unable to save him from those depths, that darkness.

What is the point of using this boy as a smokescreen, you wonder. How can parading him around be worth any of his foolishness?

Then we meet Blaise and realise, oh. He really was just a pawn in the grander scheme. He was a way to get closer to the true villain. He was merely getting in the way, being a foolish and stupid child, of everyone's true goals.

Franziska whips him and he doesn't even protest. He shouts out in pain like everyone else, but he never once tells her to stop. He just takes it, doesn't think of his usual profession of being the best.

He just takes it.

From that small detail alone, I couldn't help but immediately worry for him.

Justine shows her hand at last. Even if she had come to care for Sebastian, she's out to strike Blaise down no matter what. Blaise is the one behind that one strike against Manfred's reputation, he's behind this whole smuggling ring, he's everyone's antagonist as we all converge on this one point. Sebastian tries to stick up for his father, but even that lends to our favour. He gets in the way once more, he slips up just enough to give us what we need, and his father reveals to him in the cruellest possible way that everything he thought he's accomplished has been a total lie. He couldn't even be a worthy pawn to his father. He's a failure, through and through.

And Edgeworth gets to be the one to help him stand back up on his own two feet.

I cannot stress enough just how excellent an idea it was to have our final logic chess game be against Sebastian. How we have to use it more as a way to break through all that despair and anguish instead of for our own gain. Edgeworth being able to be a voice of strength for Sebastian, being able to offer this boy you thought your enemy for most of the game a spot of hope, is so good. It's exactly taking the lessons behind what made Edgeworth himself so good in the first game, at least in my opinion.

And we get to see bits of an actual trial!! We get to play assistant as Sebastian stands up to his father in one of the most hype scenes ever!! I'm so proud of this fail boy who came such a long way. A crybaby who, with the help of those actually willing to back him up and show him the right way instead of propping him up with false praise, is able to stand his ground and prove his father the villain he is.

He breaks that chain of legacy tying so many of our Ace Attorney characters down. Holy shit we were robbed this game, actually, huge shout out to the translation team who allowed us all to experience this cathartic moment.

#Momo writes stuff #aai1 #aai2 #aai2 spoilers #Ace Attorney Investigations #Ace Attorney Investigations 2 #jacques portsman #byrne faraday #Manfred von Karma #Sebastian Debeste #Yumihiko Ichiyanagi #Justine Courtney #Spoilers #Essay time for Momo #Blaise Debeste #Woof #I love Sebastian so much...#Lot to get through here

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rub1shhh · 3 months

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Things I wish I could draw eddsworld highschool gang in 😭😭 i suck at poses and everything xD

If only I had true talent XD

Ignore Justin Bieber, I'll probably do that XD

I ran out of ideas to draw if anyone has any XD

#womp womp #silly bands i love xD except Justin Bieber. we don't talk about that XD #if only i could draw #im sorry im writing more fanfiction than highschool stuff 😭

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blujayonthewing · 6 months

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more dnd and adjacent media should be run and written by people who think dwarves and elves are boring but care very sincerely about halflings and gnomes

#me it's me they should put me in charge #welcome to my campaign. all of the halfling and gnome NPCs are richly developed and well-rounded. maybe sometimes a dwarf will exist #actually I almost left elves out of this post because imho they're more interesting than anyone ever bothers to remember or implement #and I don't think they're boring and I would give them loving and meaningful worldbuilding-- but I DO think most people run them boring #'oh they're like humans but better. they're like beautiful humans who are old' that's IT?? I am ASLEEP!!!#anyway why do people just flatly refuse to engage with the small races at all!!#are they boring or are you just writing them off for no reason!!#I have one(1) dnd friend and DM who Gets It-- oh no sorry I forgot Justin is also my DM and dnd friend dfkjhgdfj. TWO DMs who get it #so halfling and especially gnome NPCs actually get to 1) fucking exist at all and 2) feel like real people but also distinct from humans #I think people just don't know what to do with them. which is a bummer and also boring.#I dunno like. as a reasonably intelligent and fully realized adult who is also playful and silly #I have pretty strong feelings actually about gnomes getting to be real people and ALSO culturally value goofiness and whimsy #and very strong feelings about how hard that is for most people to understand or believe (:#about me #gnome stuff #worldbuilding

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sso-montana · 2 months

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You know what? Have a small snippet from the fic since I want to post it but still have to write some scenes (a bunch(I'm already at 10k words))

Quick info: set after Justin has been rescued from the oil rig and it isn't beta read so uh yeah. Also talk abt almost killing someone I guess?

"You don't trust me. Not anymore.” Hollow. Numb. Those were the only words which could describe the emptiness in Justin's voices as he whispered those words into the dark of night.

To claim he was wrong wouldn't work. They both knew it was true, it was more than evident. Even if she could fight against the thoughts and doubts in her head, her body's automatic reactions were beyond her control.

It was made even more evident on how on edge she had been the whole night now that she was so worn out, having just enough strength left to keep herself up on her feet.

And Justin hadn't kept her at an arms length. Hadn't acted cold or distant. Didn't tense up when she got close, unlike herself.

That meant he still trusted her.

Right?

“I…” searching for the right words was hard, especially if you yourself aren't sure just what you are feeling. What should she say? ‘I need time'? 'It's not your fault’? ‘Can you blame me’? With a defeated sigh she turned her head away, hand hovering over his hesitantly before retreating and laying back on the hay again. “I want to trust you, believe me, I do. It's just that…”

She couldn't bring herself to finish the sentence. Finishing it meant she had to acknowledge that the thing he had already felt so horrible about was indeed the reason she couldn't trust him.

“I almost killed you?” It hurt to hear just how broken he sounded. How hurt he was that his suspicions had been proven right. Montana wanted to pull him into her arms desperately, to tell him it would be alright, they could fix this, it would be fine-

But would it really be fine? How do you fix something like this? After all it wasn't a situation people got themselves in very often. And Justin had always been one of the few people she didn't want to lie to, not about things like this.

He had always been honest with her, always been kind and welcoming and patient even if she herself had acted horrible.

He was a good person. It wasn't fair that things turned out like this.

"Mo, I'm sorry." As he spoke he turned his head to face her, voice barely above a whisper as it cracked. “You know I would never hurt you like that-”

“But you did.” She couldn't turn around, couldn't bear to see the hurt look on his face as she cut him off. Those three words must've cut like a knife if the wince leaving his lips was anything to go by.

#sso #ssoblr #sso oc #montana opalheart #justin moorland #mo tries to write #I swear I'm going to finish it I want to post it SO BAD #but it's still a little rough and I still have to write some parts leading up to the scenario I actually want to write about #and then it has to be beta read bc I'm dumb and will overlook stuff

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kdsburneraccount · 1 year

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mods asleep post doodles

#justin trying to emulate the iconic hair (it kinda works but also i feel like i janked up justin's expression lowkey)#i love parallels #why was randy moss kinda babygirl actually #we are going to have a conversation #this statement was sponsored by cris car- <is shot>#anyways wow yeah me when i draw #one day back to my irregularly scheduled writing program (not today)#drawing #sketch #nfl #minnesota vikings #randy moss #justin jefferson #i draw stuff

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superblizzardfire · 1 year

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I Just Can’t Give You Up

Bruce Banner/Justin Hammer for @winterhulk (@marvelrarepairbingo2022 Secret Santa Exchange)

A short while later, Bruce is dressed and ready to face whoever the hell brought him here. As he descends the spiral staircase, he hears funk music playing nearby: James Brown’s Get Up Offa That Thing. No AC/DC? Definitely not Tony.

At the bottom of the stairs is a roomy living space. One corner is a dining area, and the man at the table springs up and marches towards him. ‘Oh, hey! Good morning! I was starting to worry about you.’

Before he can respond, Bruce’s hand is grasped in a firm shake. ‘You were?’ he stutters.

‘Yeah. You were out for nearly fourteen hours. Must have needed the rest.’ He grins, flashing white teeth. ‘I’m Justin Hammer. I’m guessing you’ve heard of me?’

Of course: the perfectly-coiffed hair, the glasses, the grey suit with matching waistcoat… Justin Hammer has been all over the news lately. He’s not exactly the poster child of selfless acts.

Bruce glances around. There are no bars on the tall glass windows, and the place is full of very breakable furniture and ornaments. ‘Did you… kidnap me?’

‘Kidnap you?’ Justin looks scandalised. ‘Gosh no! Actually, you came to me. I found you unconscious in the snow after Hulk crashed out in my backyard – literally.’ He finally drops the handshake. ‘He also threw a semi into the koi pond, but I’ll get that fixed.’

Bruce laughs awkwardly. ‘Send Tony the bill. Um, I should go before I break anything else.’ He’s already backing away, wringing his hands. The less he has to do with Justin the better.

He’s halfway to the door when Justin calls, ‘You won’t stay for breakfast?’

The final word stops him in his tracks. Bruce is suddenly aware of the gnawing ache in his stomach. ‘I’m not hungry.’

‘You sure? We’ve got waffles, croissants, pancakes, French toast, avocado toast… all vegan, of course.’ When Bruce turns around, Justin shrugs and smiles. ‘Tony’s not the only one who can Google things. You’re like me, you like sweet things.’

The table is clustered with white plates on a blue tablecloth, all piled high with Bruce’s favourite breakfast foods. His mouth waters. ‘Just breakfast, huh? No strings attached?’

Justin sits down, already tucking a napkin into his shirt. ‘The door’s right there. We both know I can’t stop you.’

Read the rest on AO3!

#bruce banner #justin hammer #bruce banner x justin hammer #gammacannonry #greenbacks #blizzard writes stuff #marvel rare pair bingo #mrp2022 #this was so much fun to write! fancy food and funk music and Justin being a charmer #gammatech #too many good ship names!

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